United States of America
The United States of America was a nation state super-power that held great influence during the 20th and early to mid-21st centuries. 'History' Just as the 21st Century saw the rise to prominence of the Chinese and Indian super powers, it also saw the fall of the old ones and none fell so hard as the United States of America. To begin with it was not a decline that saw it's fall from grace but instead the heart ache of being surpassed by Eastern rivals and a desire to be back on top. With economic superiority ripped from it's grasp, the USA turned to it's other major strength, science. Despite two near crippling recessions in the second half of the 21st Century, huge advances were made in robotics, space flight and terraforming, advances that were refused to the rest of the world. As such the United States became a country of two halves, one side that was served by gentile robot butlers and computer systems a decade ahead of the rest of the world and another so destitute that many satirised they had also invented time travel and pulled the nation back to the early 1930s. The advances in technology coupled with the desire for dominance led to three American catastrophes that sealed the fate of a nation and ushered in a century of new global politics. ''The Day of the Invisibles Date: '''Classified.' Location: Classified. Events: Classified. ''Solis Lacus Penal Colony In 2097 an expedition part financed by the government of the United States of America was sent to Mars in the hope of establishing a successful prison facility on the planet. Led by experienced prison warden Stuart Monroe, the penal colony drew in vast amounts of capital from foreign powers hoping to alleviate their growing prisoner numbers. The attempt ended in disaster however after the facility was forced to undergo a self-destruct procedure to prevent the inmates from taking hold of the prison. The colony was flooded with radiation for the next twenty five years until it was taken on by the Chinese government. Both the disaster itself and the sale of America's only off-planet base helped seal the casket of the dying power. Project: First Contact'' In 2061 a signal was received, echoing from outer space. At the time, technology did not allow for the signal to be decipher or to be traced and so simply sat in NASAs data-banks for almost twenty five years. Over two decades later, with the incredible advances made in American science, a controversial discovery was made. Despite claims that the signal was just an communiqué from Earth that had bounced back, a group of scientists managed to estimate a location from within deep space for the signal to have emanated from; somewhere that no human had ever seen. While the rest of the world claimed this to be a hoax, the USA began to work towards developing the necessary technology to allow deep space travel and to make meaningful contact with whoever these mysterious benefactors may have been. The outcome was not what anyone expected.